Best Restaurants in Alexandria
Five essential tables, ranked by occasion.
$$ 200–600 EGP$$$ 600–1500 EGP$$$$ Over 1500 EGP
Alexandria’s Top 5
Greek Club
The Greek Club — also known as the White & Blue Restaurant — occupies a position directly adjacent to the Qaitbay Citadel at the end of the Eastern Harbour, offering the best harbour views in Alexandria from ...
Zephyrion
Zephyrion is located in Abu Qir — the coastal village east of Alexandria where the Aboukir Bay meets the open Mediterranean, the site of Nelson’s 1798 naval victory over Napoleon’s fleet — and has...
Branzino
Branzino is known for consistency — reliably fresh fish and careful, precise cooking in a relaxed yet nice atmosphere. The description is deceptively simple: in a city where seafood quality can vary dramatically de...
El Lol
El Lol is the most direct expression of Alexandria’s seafood identity: a restaurant where the interval between ocean and plate is measured in minutes rather than hours, where the fishermen whose boats are visible f...
Sea Gull Restaurant
Sea Gull Restaurant has earned consistent accolades for its elegant setting, extensive seafood menu, and professional service that distinguish it from Alexandria’s more casual seafood tables. The restaurant takes t...
Stefano's
Stefano’s is a Mediterranean-style establishment at the Four Seasons Alexandria, located on the coast with stunning sea views that place the dining experience in immediate visual relationship with the same Mediterr...
Dining in Alexandria — The Essential Guide
The Mediterranean City at Table
Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC as the most important port city of the ancient Mediterranean world — and for two thousand years it was exactly that. The Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World; the Library of Alexandria, the greatest repository of knowledge in antiquity; the city that Cleopatra ruled and Caesar visited. The food culture that has developed in this extraordinary historical context draws on every civilization that has traded here: Greek, Roman, Arab, Ottoman, and French.
The result is a seafood tradition of two thousand years’ refinement, a Greek influence that still shapes the menu at the finest tables, and the freshest fish on the African coast. When locals say that the seafood in Alexandria is the best in Egypt — and Egypt is not a country lacking in seafood traditions — they are speaking a truth that the visitor who eats at the Greek Club, Zephyrion, and El Lol in the same trip will immediately confirm.
The Alexandrian Seafood Canon
Sayadeya — fish with rice cooked in a rich, spiced stock — is Alexandria’s most celebrated dish and one of the great seafood preparations of North African cuisine. The best version is made with the finest available fish (mullet or sea bass are traditional), the rice cooked in a stock enriched by the fish’s flavour, and the whole assembly finished with fried onions and the spice blend that each cook develops over years. Sea Gull’s sayadeya is the formal expression; El Lol’s is the honest one.